Samurai js300 saw review

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punkrockcaveman

Full Member
Jan 28, 2017
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yorks
I've been using a small garden centre standard folding pruning saw for a long time now, the blade length is probably 150mm or thereabouts. It does a great job of occasional cutting, but when it comes to putting a shift in it's a little uncomfortable, a little bit inefficient and it can really only handle small diameter wood. This was highlighted in a recent trip to Etive, dry wood was hard to come by so it was a case of finding dead standing and splitting it up to make feather sticks.

On my return from Etive I started looking around for a new shiny. I do some occasional tree work, and I get to use a silky zubat with a 390mm blade. It's a great saw but complete with the sheath it's rather heavy, so not ideal for packing. It's also about £50, and spare blades are about £40, for me this was a bit too much of an investment.

I stumbled upon a site called Buxton's, and they had the samurai saw for sale at £15. They must go for a bit more than this because a spare blade was £20!

At 300mm long it was going to be loads better than the folding pruner, but not as heavy as the zubat. When it arrived I was suprised at just how light it was, especially considering the full plastic sheath. It must be half the weight of the zubat.

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On Saturday I got the chance to use it proper, we had a cherry to remove and a birch and a rowan to prune/bring in. The samurai munched through it all no problem, even on 4/5 inch pieces. Having said that, green cherry and birch are pretty soft so it wasn't exactly testing. I got to use my renovated billhook too which made light work of small limbs, they are a real joy to use, don't know why they aren't used more often!

What I did notice is that the blade is on the thin side. I noticed that if you went quite far back on the pull cut, on the push you would see the blade flex a bit, and would feel like it was jamming slightly. It never did jam fully, but it was a brand new sharp blade, so this might become a problem over time. I think if the blade was thicker though this would become a heavy saw and wouldn't be as handy for packing, so for what I want I think it's about ideal.

The handle was super comfortable, better than the silky IMO. It also had a nice little belt clip for putting it onto your belt rather quickly, which I found very useful as something that long on your belt can be a hindrance when you don't need it, so being able to clip it on and off without redoing my belt all the time was great.

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The sheath wasn't quite as good as the silky though. The silky has these little delrin/teflon guides that stop the sheath getting damaged and make it easier to get the saw in the sheath. Overall I'd highly recommend as a serious camp saw, especially if you need a big saw but don't want the weight.
 

Nice65

Brilliant!
Apr 16, 2009
6,438
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W.Sussex
I’m a huge Silky fan, but that’s fine for a tree surgeon or someone who uses the saw daily. They’re expensive for the casual user. It’s good to know there’s a cheaper alternative. Anyone who’s used a Bahco and then a pull saw like the above is immediately wowed by the ease they cut.

I’m sure there’s another review or thread here about these saws, can’t find it.
 
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dwardo

Bushcrafter through and through
Aug 30, 2006
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Good review thanks. Just ordered one from Buxtons :) You should be on commission. Worth mentioning its a couple of quid postage but still cheap as chips.
 
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punkrockcaveman

Full Member
Jan 28, 2017
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Good review thanks. Just ordered one from Buxtons :) You should be on commission. Worth mentioning its a couple of quid postage but still cheap as chips.

haha no worries. Tried to be as honest as possible... if any further problems/positives come to light as I'm using it I'll keep the thread updated :)
 

punkrockcaveman

Full Member
Jan 28, 2017
1,457
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yorks
I gave it another good test on dead pine and birch Upto 6 inch diameter, copied with it really well considering it's more a green wood saw really.
 

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